NAUGATUCK, Conn. - A Republican candidate from Naugatuck
has won the special election for the vacant 70th House District
seat.

Rosa Rebimbas won a close race Monday. The 33-year-old attorney
won by 78 votes over Democrat Kevin McSherry, 1,043 to 965.

Today, voters in Pennsylvania will elect a replacement for Republican state senator James Rhoades, who died in a car crash last fall. I don't really know if the election is supposed to be close, but on paper this looks like a competitive district.

Barack Obama carried five of the six counties that are represented in the 29th District, but more than half of the voters in the district are in Schuylkill County, the one place where John McCain came out ahead. The Democratic nominee is Steve Lukach, the Schuylkill County clerk of courts, while the Republican nominee is longtime state Rep. David Argall, who is also from Schuylkill County. The Republican edge in the Senate will either be 29-21 or 30-20, depending on the result.